


How Would You Feel

by racheltuckerrr



Series: Divide [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-02 22:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10229576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/racheltuckerrr/pseuds/racheltuckerrr
Summary: 'How would you feel, if I told you I loved you?It's just something that I want to doI'll be taking my time, spending my lifeFalling deeper in love with youSo tell me that you love me too'





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaneWhoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaneWhoo/gifts).



> Inspired by recent events, messy feelings, an amazing song in an amazing album and this very specific request from a dear source “I want a fic with Cat hopelessly falling in love with a perfectly composed Kara Danvers."

Catherine Grant and Kara Danvers have been best friends for a long time. A _long_ time.

Which is baffling to Cat because Kara is the most beautiful, intelligent and kind girl she’s ever met and is admittedly one of the more popular ones in Midvale High. And despite all of that, for close to seven years now, she continues to choose Cat as the person to spend her days with.

Their friendship began the day when Cat ran away from home crying, because her mother threatened to ship her off to boarding school again, and, tears blurring her vision, she literally ran into Kara on the playground by the beach they both liked to go to calm down. Kara took one look at the petrified girl with the high ponytail on the top of her head that took up almost two thirds of her face, the tears silently flowing from her eyes, cheeks reddened from the chill in the morning air, gave her a tissue and told her that whatever was wrong she would make it right.

She did, and the two of them have been inseparable ever since.

“What’s your name?” Kara asked after she managed to calm the other girl down enough that she could speak.

“Cat.”

“Cat like… _meow_?”

And Cat doesn’t correct her, because it’s better to be likened to an animal than to admit that her own mother didn’t even think enough of her to bother to come up with an original name, and only changed the first letter of her own so they wouldn’t be confused on paper. So, she decided, _Cat_ would have to do.

“Meow,” she nods and at Kara’s beam she thinks she’s finally managed to do something right.

That’s how it begins.

 

* * *

 

 

They have the kind of friendship everyone wants, the kind everyone around them, and that occasionally includes Kara’s sister Alex, is jealous of, the kind that adults praise and liken to an unshakeable alliance for life.

Which is all well and good, but for the ever growing unidentified feeling in Cat’s stomach, that keeps persisting no matter how many times she thinks she’s silenced it for good. That feeling inside her ribcage, coiling her stomach into tight knots in between the spaces where her bravery used to be and making her forget how to breathe sometimes when Kara forgets herself and laughs in that sunshine way she has, that instantly makes everyone in her orbit fall under her spell. That feeling that even with her little to no experience, Cat is pretty sure she knows does not come with the territory of friendship. Not even close.

Just like she’s pretty sure she’s not supposed to feel this _angry_ for no apparent reason when the captain of the Midvale Junior football team makes it abundantly clear that he’s interested in her best friend in that obnoxious, teenage boy kind of way that most girls their age only dream about being on the receiving end of. And she shouldn’t feel equally as relieved when Kara politely, but firmly declines his offer to become one half of the new Midvale power couple, as he put it.

Of course, Cat does her best to tuck away all these rebellious emotions as far into a distant corner of her mind as she can reach, so she can react appropriately when Kara tells her what happened and they laugh about it as they sit in the park behind the school and make plans to have a sleepover that weekend where they would talk about absolutely everything _but_ boys.

It works for a while and the connection she shares with Kara only grows stronger with time as they watch each other slowly become people the other can be effortlessly proud of.

But it’s increasingly hard for Cat to ignore those feelings when Kara is as open and generous with her affection as she’s ever been, and especially when it comes to Cat and their relationship, saying things like “You’re the most important friend that I will ever have” as casually as a hello and “We’ll be together forever” as though she’s saying talk to you soon. It comes as easily to Kara as breathing and it makes Cat believe that it can be.

 

* * *

 

 

With the coming spring, lately Kara has been in her element even more than usual, collecting flowers and tucking them in her hair as makeshift accessories, asking Cat to braid her hair to celebrate that it’s finally long enough to tickle her waist and Cat couldn’t resist her if she tried.

She’s never been particularly fond of spring, because it only serves as a reminder of the last time she ever saw her father. It was a cold, starless night when after months of backhanded comments and unnecessary jabs about his profession and overall worth as a human being, her mother finally decided that just like Cat, he wouldn’t ever be enough and kicked him out of her house for good, not even letting him say goodbye to his only daughter. That of course didn’t stop Cat as she snuck out in the middle of the spring night to sob into her father’s shoulder for not nearly the first, but quite possibly the last time.

She never saw him again after that because he’s still careful to avoid the dragon’s nest for fear of being burned alive, for good this time, but she keeps a postcard from each city he’s been to in the bottom drawer of her desk, the only one that has a lock on it so her mother never finds out.

So, no…Cat’s never been particularly fond of spring. Now though, as she threads her fingers through Kara’s silky blonde hair as the girl sends a grateful smile over her shoulder, the special brand that’s reserved only for Cat, she feels like she may be persuaded yet.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s not until one day, Winn, one of the boys from their group of friends confesses his ever-dying love for a girl he met that morning on the school bus for the very first time and falls flat on his face when she doesn’t even remember his name, that Cat first starts wondering about the concept of romantic love.

And, more specifically, whether or not it has anything to do with her current predicament, and the way her heart seems to beat faster every time she sees Kara.

Cat’s not a stupid girl by any stretch of the imagination, but if she has learned to do anything well in her brief seventeen years, it’s how to protect herself, so she of course dismisses the thought almost as soon as it first reaches her conscious mind.

But she can never completely forget it.

 

* * *

 

 

In the summer the lilacs bloom and Kara declares her new favourite colour as purple, doing her best to incorporate it in her outfits, her drawings, and even asks Cat to help her, Alex and Eliza repaint one of the walls in her bedroom to a pale lavender shade.

So when Cat sees a small, flower shaped earring with a purplish stone in the middle as she walks by the little place where they like to window-shop on the corner, she doesn’t hesitate to spend her very limited amount of lunch money on it, because she knows without a doubt that Kara will love it.

It’s only when they’re standing in the usual queue in front of the canteen that Kara makes her admit the reason why she’s suddenly not hungry that day.

When Cat reaches into her backpack and shows her the earrings, the girl only takes one look at them, then reaches for Cat’s hand and walks them out of the school and to the Danvers home where Eliza makes Cat’s favourite food without having to be told what it is, and Cat feels tears prickling her eyes when she thinks she’ll never be happier than she is with this family.

Of course, it’s then that Alex joins them and sticks her tongue out at Cat for sitting at her usual place at the counter and the world shifts back to normal once again.

 

* * *

 

 

The first time Cat ever has a date it’s not even her choice. Her mother sets her up with the son of one of her prestigious author associates, because Cat’s mother doesn’t have _friends_ , and Cat dreads the whole thing from start to finish, but even her wit isn’t enough to get her out of going.

She arrives five minutes early, in the hopes of getting the evening over with as soon as she can, but her naïve expectations are crushed when her so called date only manages to show up twenty minutes after the agreed upon meeting time, looking at her like she should be grateful he decided to grace her with his presence at all.

They barely get through the appetizers and it becomes abundantly clear that the person sitting across from her is the perfect husband candidate for _Katherine Grant’s daughter_. He is so stuck up he barely looks at Cat even as he expects her to listen to the endless tales he spins about his mediocre life, and it doesn’t take long for Cat to see he’s almost as much of a snob as her mother already.

It’s nothing short of a godsend when she gets a text from Kara, telling her to make up any flimsy excuse she can think of and meet her at the back entrance. Cat could cry from relief as she slips into the leather backseat of the rental car Alex drives around in these days with her friend Maggie and Cat will thank them both properly later, but for the moment she just throws her purse down and collapses against Kara as the fits of giggles take over them both.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s the autumn of their senior year that Kara’s father disappears after the mining accident he and a few fellow scientists took part in goes awry and the Danvers family keeps vigil all night long waiting for any news on the loved ones stuck under the earth.

Alex and Eliza do their best to keep each other afloat while Cat never once leaves Kara’s side, making sure to help wherever she can, until finally word reaches them that while he’s been slightly injured, Jeremiah Danvers survived the accident.

It’s then that Cat takes Kara by the hand and up to the roof of their home with a bottle of champagne she stole from the fridge and they try it together for the first time, shivering under a wool blanket as they clutch each other close, watching the sun rise over the deep green of the mountains in the distance.

Cat holds Kara impossibly close as the tears finally come and sobs wreck her exhausted body, her best friend caressing her skin and holding the girl in her arms as best as she can, murmuring things in her ear that she will only later realize held much more meaning than Cat was willing to admit at the time.

When Cat feels her teeth chatter she gently pulls Kara up and guides her to her bed with the blanket still over both of their shoulders and whispers in her ear before they fall asleep, curled around each other like two flightless birds in the snow.

“I will never leave you” she whispers into Kara’s hair before she falls asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

When the time comes to fill in their college applications they finally realise that their interests for the future lie elsewhere, with Kara’s ambition in the arts and Cat’s newfound, but so far steadfast infatuation with the news and making a difference by uncovering important truths just under the surface.

It’s a startling discovery, and Cat thinks it shouldn’t be this impossible to imagine her life without Kara constantly by her side, smiling encouragingly, but it _is_ and Cat’s carefully crafted dam designed to keep her overflowing feelings at bay finally breaks.

They’re sitting on their favourite spot on the beach, not far from the exact place where they first met that winter morning, watching the waves crash into the shore, a steady reminder that life will in fact go on, when Cat takes Kara’s hand in her own and asks her if she has ever been in love with anyone.

Kara is completely unphased as she wipes the rapidly flowing tears from Cat’s eyes and she says “Only once,” her cerulean blue eyes piercingly bright in the pale afternoon light.

Cat takes a deep breath and draws strength from Kara squeezing her hand, her gut telling her it’s now or never.

“Kara, I have to tell you something,” she chokes, voice breaking from emotion.

The other girl only hums in response and intertwines their fingers so completely that Cat has to look down between them to marvel at the physical proof of their connection. The clear evidence that this singularly incredible person keeps choosing _her_ so adamantly, so unflinching in her devotion.

It’s that knowledge that gives her the courage to push down the dread in her stomach and soldier on towards the finish line.

“I think…” she whispers, like it’s actually a secret. “I think I fell in love with my best friend,” she sniffles and smiles through her tears when Kara gives her a beautiful, sad smile.

“How would you feel if that were true?” she holds her breath, still unsure of the answer.

When Kara only looks at her with a fond expression that holds a depth that even Cat can’t translate without having the actual words, can’t possibly believe without an admission to cling to, and she can barely hold herself together anymore as she lets out a broken whisper of a “darling, _please_.”

Kara still doesn’t answer, only takes Cat’s face gently between the palms of her hands, smoothing one finger over her trembling lips and soothing the anxiety in those big, bright eyes as she brings their lips together and pours every bit of her affection and conviction into Cat.

They both have tears running down their cheeks by the time their lips part and Kara rests her forehead gently over Cat’s as she keeps caressing her face with unending reverence.

“I’d tell you that I love you too, Cat.”

Cat sighs and she feels, for the first time in years, and despite the uncertainty of their future still hanging over them, that she is _finally_ home.


End file.
